Ethics of Consumers Engaging in Ethical Purchases - Essay Example

?The Ethics of Consumers Engaging in Ethical Purchases For Whom You Are Writing This Paper I am writing this briefing paper for the prime minister as a senior government head responsible for the welfare and policies of the voters. Aims and Structure of the Paper In this briefing paper, my intention is to inform him about the ethics of consumers and customers in engaging in ethical practices and their contributions to their will in participating in conserving the environment and promoting developing countries. I also aim to show him how the economic, social, and political pressures have affected the organizations that promote these consumer ethics. In my last part, I am planning to suggest to the premier the possible solutions to the ongoing crisis in policies regarding business. Brief Summary of the Topic Various scholars have studied consumer ethics in different perspectives. Newman (2011) studied them and explained that those consumers who try to make ethical purchases only to realize they were duped may become cynical and feel their efforts were futile. DaVinney et al. (2010) studied them in terms of consumer social behaviors while Nicholls & Opal (2005) studied the way they drive market and thus influencing fair-trade. According to Carrigan (2005), Consumer ethics are the moral principles that guide consumers in obtaining, using, and disposing of goods and services. These consumer ethics help us to understand how consumers make their judgment about products or services in questionable situations like fraud and shoplifting. The ethics helps consumers to conduct themselves in a way that help them remain in harmony with concerns of nature while not neglecting the needs and interests of their social reality and their immediate and material needs (Koslowski et al 2004). These ethics can also help consumers to avoid unhealthy products and services and those products, which might pollute the environment. According to Schwartz (2010), it is necessary for consumers to consider the moral and ethical dimension of the products when making a purchase. However, there are very few who do so. In this era, what people say and what they actually do when shopping differ greatly (Miller 2001). Moreover, it is somehow very difficult to avoid unethical purchases completely and as a result, few people in the current world buy products and services purely on ethics. In most cases people tend to make emotional decisions based on the perception they have for a product or service when making a purchase (Arnold 2010). A good example of people who make ethical purchases are those who choose to buy a product that is labeled fair-trade because of their concern for the developing countries. Another good example is people who buy product because of the role they play in conserving the environment (Harrison et al. 2005). Various factors are believed to influence the consumer ethics. Some of these factors include culture, social-economic status, and religion (Carrigan 2005). Many scholars have studied these factors and tried to explain the roles they play in influencing a consumer to make an ethical purchase. It is also believed that when making an ethical purchase the consumer does not have to ignore other factors of the product or service like price and quality (Harrison et al. 2005). In this case, what a consumer should do is to use an additional criterion of ethics when deciding his purchases. Consider the Topic from the Views of at least Two Competing Ethical Perspectives We can consider the issue of consumer ethics from various different perspectives. One of these perspectives is when it comes to purchasing food staffs. In such a case, consumers are bound by various factors when deciding which product to buy. With the current development in economy and technology, various types of synthetic foodstuffs have emerged. These foodstuffs are promoted even in our media. Also due to competition of the sorts of foodstuffs in the market, no company can dare to tell the consumers the disadvantage of their products. The kind of advertisement done on products, make consumers to have a perception different from their ethics. As a result, these consumers might decide to buy products or services depending on their perception rather than ethics. Marketing strategies have increase with an objective of not only informing consumers on the availability of products but also persuading them to buy these products. Various companies have been hcan decide to give misleading information in terms of marketing (Crane & Matten, 2007). This misleading information might dupe the consumers when trying to make ethical purchases and thus making them to feel as if their effort were futile (Newman, 2011). As a result the consumers will be no longer have the motivation to undertake ethical purchases We also know that people love their health and some also the environment. The issue of personal health is a big motivation when it comes to ethical purchases of foodstuffs. Many people tend to buy vegetable and organic foodstuffs because they believe that these products have less adverse effect as compared to synthetic and sugary foods. As a result of these motivation, people might tend to buy products not out of perception created by the various marketing strategies but out of their personal ethics. We can also look at the issue of purchase from a perspective of purchasing products necessary for personal hygiene. As we are aware our bodies are sensitive and thus if we give them just anything we come across, we might harm them. If we are not cautious, we can have a very good perspective of a product due to the attractive adverts we watch in the media. This might result to a customer making a purchase against his ethics. However, most of the consumers understand the effects of such products and thus practices ethics every time they purchase such products. However, not all consumers have enough information on which products can harm them or the environment. With the marketing strategy used by various organizations and the current level of competition for the market, it is difficult to discover the products that will actually pollute your environment or even affect your health since all organizations tends to give information that will only influence the consumer to buy a product when marketing. Another perspective we can look at is when purchasing electronics. As we know, most of these products are meant for entertainment. This area depends very little on the consumer ethics. In this case, the level of consumer ethics practiced is believed to depend on various aspects of the consumer like his level of education, socialization or even the way he was brought-up (Hatab 2000). Although this is the area which is affected the least by misleading marketing information, majority of consumers make their purchases out of their personal perceptions. Another perspective is buying of services. Very few scholars have studied this field but it is also believed that there are ethics practiced when it comes to paying for a service. In this case, the issue of guilt and conscience comes into play. If when you are purchasing a service you feel guilty or you feel like you are violating your conscience then this means that you are making unethical purchase. Many individuals have become victims of such encounters. Most cases, they decide to continue. This is a difficult area to study since conscience differs from one person to another and thus it is very hard to draw boundaries on the kind Identify Economic, Social and Political Pressures Faced by the affected Organizations Consumer ethics issues affect various organizations differently. Moreover, there are other organizations that are mandated with overseeing that companies maintain the major ethical values that affect the society and organizations. Most of these companies always have their sales lowered by consumer ethics and sometime they are required to pay more in advertisement. Other organizations that are negatively affected by the consumer ethics are the advertising groups and the media. Due to consumer ethics, the media finds that it requires spending more time of broadcasting in advertising certain products. Moreover, the advertising groups also find that they need to make adverts that are more appealing on the products that face consumer ethics issues. These organizations are affected in a different way by consumer ethics and since all of them are important to the economy of this nation, they should be sustained while ensuring that the consumer is not negatively affected. All the organizations, as earlier mentioned have their economy very much affected by consumer ethics. Consumer ethics increase the cost of advertising which results to an increase in the cost of production. This increase in the cost of production lowers the company’s revenue and thus affecting it economically (O’Guinn et al. 2011). Some consumer ethics also make these organizations to introduce promotions that are expensive to run and to maintain. This exerts more pressure on the economy of such organizations. The media and the advertising agencies find themselves requiring adjustment of advertisements about products that face consumer ethics. This is an expensive process but they have to do that to maintain the appeal of their adverts. A good part about increased consumer ethics is that it will make the organizations mandated in preserving the environment to spend less on environmental awareness and conservation. The ethics of consumers will be driving them to using only products that are environmental friendly. Another economic advantage of consumer ethics is that it reduces the economic pressure on the health organization. As consumers use their ethics in purchasing products they will avoid consuming products that can negatively affect their health and as a result, we will have a healthy population. This will make health organizations to reduce their expenses on health programs. Organizations face a lot of social pressure from both internal and external. These pressures in most cases can cause an organization to change its code of ethics even if they are not bad (Champoux 2010). Some consumers have ethics that prevent them from buying certain products despite their importance. A good example is a group of religious people who decide that they cannot buy condoms or family planning pills. Finally, these people might become infected by an STI or even fail to plan their families. This forces the organization to adjust its marketing strategy and thus resulting to increase in social pressure to the organization. Health organization is affected most hence affecting the organizations that manufacture medical products. Another social pressure is experienced by the organization in an effort to reach those affected by these ethics. Another social impact is felt when certain people refuse even to participate in the distributions of products of a certain organization because they believe is it unethical. Like every other setting, politics and its pressures are part of what an organization has to go through. These pressures are exerted either indirectly through government actions or through constituents and clients (Stajkovic et al. 2010). As we know, politicians can be consumers with ethical values and vice versa. Some of the organizations become victims of the politicians with a consumer ethic that is against what they produce. In addition, other politicians feel it is not necessary to support some organization due to lack of consumer ethics. Some of these politicians tend to pressurize these organizations either to stop operating or change their line of operation. This political pressure can also come from within the organization where one of the key decision makers may have an ethic against the area of operation of the organization. Moreover, as a result of consumer ethics health organization can be required to increase their program of consumer sensitization and awareness about certain products. Draw up a List of Possible options for the British Government Identifying the Positive and Negative points from an Ethical Perspective According to Cremer & De Cremer (2009), putting a different spin on a situation or changing its frame can change how we interpret that situation. This is true since when applied like in your government, it will reduce negative effects on consumer ethics while promoting what is positive and legally acceptable. Your government has a wide range of options that contain positive effects to take. One of the most important options your government has is controlling the advertisement made on different media. Since business is regarded as a game with its own rules, the issues of dishonesty arise from time to time especially in advertisements. The government should enhance honesty in advertisements and thus shielding consumers from misleading information about certain products (Ferrell et al. 2012). This in return will make consumers who practice ethics with an objective of either preserving the environment or improving their health to achieve their objectives. They will feel that their efforts were worth undertaking. However, if this is not practiced correctly it can affect the liberalized kind of trade that we are currently enjoying and thus resulting to a lot of complains from the business fraternity. Another option that your government has is strengthening the organizations that sensitize people on certain issues regarding norms. A good example is formation of an organization that will consist of both religious and other community leader. This organization will inform the religious consumers the advantages of the products. As a result, they will have managed to promote things like condoms and birth control pills while making emphasis that using them does not make one more evil. In practicing these, your government should be ready to handle challenges from both the religious and non-religious groups. Some of the challenges will come from the sycophants who are too rigid to change. Despite the challenges, this option is worth trying since it will not only promote the sale of condoms but also improve both the social and physical health of your people. References Arnold, C 2010, Ethical Marketing and the New Consumer, John Wiley & Sons, West Sussex. Carrigan, M 2005, Ethics, and International Marketing: Research Background and Challenges. Vol. 22, Emerald Group Publishing, Bingley. Champoux, J 2010, Organizational Behavior: Integrated Individuals, Groups, and Organizations, (4th Ed.), Routledge, New York. Crane, A & Matten, D 2007, Business Ethics: Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the …. Oxford University Press, New York. Cremer, DC & De Cremer, D 2009, The Psychological Perspective of Ethical Behavior and Decision Making, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte. DaVinney, TM et al. 2010, The Myth of Ethical Consumer, Cambridge University Press New York. Ferrell, OC.et al. 2012, Business Ethics: Ethical Decision making & Cases, (9th Ed.), Cengage Learning, Mason. Harrison, R et al. 2005, The Ethical Consumer, SAGE Publications Ltd, London. Hatab, L J 2000, Ethics and Finitude: Heideggerian Contributions to Moral Philosoph,. Rowman & Littlefield publishers, Lanham. Koslowski, P et al 2004, Business Ethics and Electronic Economy, Springer, Berlin. Miller, D 2001, The Dialectics of Shopping, University of Chicago, Chicago. Newman, J 2011, Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide, SAGE Publications Ltd, London. Nicholls, A & Opal, C 2005, Fair-trade: Market Driven Ethical Consumption, SAGE Publications Ltd, London. O’Guinn, TC et al. 2011, Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion, Cengage Learning, Mason. Schwartz, DT 2010, Consuming Choices: Ethics in a Global Consumer Age, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham. Stajkovic, S et al. 2010, Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and Management, (5th Ed.), Cengage Learning, Mason. Read More